Three people have been killed and three others injured when a small plane crashed into a helicopter while taking off from an airstrip near Mount Everest, Nepalese authorities say.
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The Simrik Air plane was taking off on Sunday from Tenzing-Hillary Airport in Lukla, the gateway to Everest, when it hit a Manang Air helicopter parked on a helipad, said police spokesman Uttam Raj Subedi.
"The co-pilot and a policeman died at the crash site. Another police officer died in a hospital in Kathmandu," he said.
The plane's pilot, the helicopter's pilot and a Manang Air worker were among the injured, he said. They were flown to Kathmandu for medical treatment, he added.
Four passengers on board the plane were unhurt.
The police were part of the tourist police deployed to the area, he said, adding that the wounded and dead were all Nepalese.
Hundreds of foreign climbers head to the mountain region in April to climb Mount Everest during the commercial expedition season, which lasts until May.
The airport, named after the two men who were the first to summit the 8848-metre peak, is located at 2843 metres above sea level and is considered one of the most dangerous airports in the world to reach.
Last month, seven people, including the country's tourism minister were killed in a helicopter crash in eastern Nepal.
In March last year, 50 people, including 23 Bangladeshi nationals, were killed when a US-Bangla plane crashed and burst into flames while landing at Kathmandu's international airport.
Australian Associated Press
